Welcome to the online diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother (me) who is busy celebrating the positive portions of her everyday life ... along with her best friend husband (Cary). It is quite an eclectic diary and I try to do my best to incorporate a little bit of history into many of my posts. Your visit to our piece of American Pie is greatly appreciated. This chatty Kathy posts frequently, so coming back to visit often is highly encouraged.

Showing you Oregon,one post at a time. Did you know that I post the links of many of my stories and articles on the sidebar? When you have extra time, please scroll down to see more. At the bottom of this page there are links to many other blogs that I enjoy.

Hello, friends, thank you so much for stopping by. I really hope that you will enjoy your visit to Oregon Gifts. Due to spam, I am not accepting comments from anonymous people. Please email me at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com if you are unable to leave a comment on here. I write back through email when I can.

My words and photographs are copyrighted, and may not be used without permission, even on Pinterest.

~ Kathy M.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Easy Thrifty Pillows Tutorial:

Making Easy Pillows on the Cheap:(This was previously posted on my Craft Blog.)
The other day I went to the local dollar store and purchased some tapestry wall hangings, place mats and table runners. I was lucky enough to only pay $1.50 for each of them. I did this project at Christmas, but decided to do it again and show you how.

This wall hanging that will soon become a pillow.

I first removed the wooden dowel (I kept the string attached on one end because I want to use it later for another project). Also remove the tassels.

Lay out your muslin. Don't worry about wrinkles, you'll iron those out later. I love my island for cutting things out ... it is the right height so my back doesn't hurt. The table works too, if you don't have an island. I buy semi thick muslin, usually at Walmart or the fabric store ... it is between .99 and 1.99 per yard and the color goes well for a lot of the projects that I work on.

I usually do pillows in bulk. These are some of the tapestry place mats that I bought and cut out at the same time as the pillow that I am featuring. Lay the tapestries face down on the muslin and cut around it. You don't even need to pin the two together if you don't want to.

This is what it looks like after I cut it out. It is better to have more muslin than tapestry so that you don't have to use pins (which saves you time and saves you hurting your fingers). If you are using thinner fabric you might have to use pins. You will be cutting off the excess muslin later on.

Just in case you were wondering what

my sewing area used to look like when I first posted this on my crafts blog.

This is what it looks like now, when it is clean.

It is a lot easier to sew when you have your station always set up, if you have the room to do that. I don't always have my portable sewing machine out, but everything else is always ready to go just in case I get the whim to sew.

Sew the tapestry to the muslin.

After it is sewed, trim the excess muslin off.

Begin turning the pillow inside out.

Finish turning the pillow inside out.
Use your fingers or a sharper object in the corners.

Iron both sides, using high heat and steam. Press down hard on the seams.

Stuff it with good quality polyester fiberfill. I get a large box of it at Walmart. This time it cost me $19.95 (at Christmas it was $14.95). You can buy individual bags, but they are about $3.50 - $4.00 per bag. Make sure that you put stuffing in the corners of the pillow. I use a chopstick or wooden knitting needle for that. As you continue placing the stuffing inside the pillow, use your fingers to comb it and even it out. When you are all done, hand sew the opening.

The finished product!

I painted the dowels and made them into little fishing poles (or fairy wands):

Contact Info:

There are a lot of photos and other graphics on here, so it may take a while to load if you have a slower internet connection. I really appreciate the fact that some of you wait patiently to see what I have posted. Thank you to all my readers! Please leave a comment or send me an email at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com

About Me:

Welcome to "Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy" My name is Kathy Matthews and I live in Central Oregon with my best friend husband, Cary. I am a fifth generation Oregonian who loves to take pictures, write, create, and go places with Cary. My main blog, Oregon Gifts, is an online journal, where I try my best to celebrate the positive portions of everyday life. My other blogs are off-shoots into my particular interest areas. Please enjoy your visit, and leave a comment if you feel led. If you would like to email me, here is my email address: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@
hotmail.com
Thank you!

"Celebrating the Positive Portions of Everyday Life."

Most of the photos on these websites were taken by me. Others are from my friends and family's FB pages. Enjoy them, but please do not claim them as your own or use/copy them. Thanks! All rights reserved on the contents of this website. Created by Kathy Matthews of Central Oregon, November 2008.